He Twirled, and Then He Fell
by CoalBlackEyes
Summary: AU. Alfred realises that all important events happen on sunny days. However important doesn't mean happy. Alfred has to deal with a tragic loss, but can he cope?


Disclaimer: I don't own Hetalia; I own nothing except the plot of this story.

It was a beautiful day that day. Funny how all his life-changing events happened on sunny days. However after _that_day Alfred never saw anything as beautiful ever again.

* * *

Alfred was in a good mood. His long-time boyfriend of 4 years was back from visiting his brother in Germany, and they were going to spend the day doing nothing but enjoying each other's company.

Alfred had it all planned out, he was taking a short walk before heading to the nearby airport to pick Gilbert up. He had lied and told Gilbert that he had to work, therefore being unable to meet him at the airport when in reality he specifically took the day off just to surprise him. Alfred grinned, it was insane how much he missed Gilbert in those 3 weeks, and he couldn't wait to hear Gilbert's voice, and to tell him the crazy stuff that had happened at the office last week.

Suddenly, the whole atmosphere changed. The people on the pavement slowed and looked above them. It's funny how sometimes people can sense danger before it even happens.

Alfred stopped. Usually he couldn't sense the mood but even he could tell that something was amiss. He looked up. And wished he hadn't. There was a pressingly loud whistle as the plane spiralled out of control. At least now he knew why the people were looking up.

'Plane…' Alfred thought distractedly. It hit him, louder than the sound of the plane, louder than the thump-thumping of his heart. Dread coursed through his veins and his stomach plummeted to his toes. 'No…please!' He prayed to himself despite the fact he was not religious. He didn't care. He wanted to move but could only watch in horror as the plane swirled, almost elegantly, before exploding into the huge tower.

The explosive heat and light only vaguely registered in Alfred's brain as all he could focus on was that one man. The one man that was Gilbert, his lifeline. How dare this happen! No… this isn't right, the hero couldn't stand there helpless; Alfred must save Gilbert! But before Alfred could surge forward with his delusionary strength, a second plane crashed into the building and shook the ground hard enough to knock Alfred off his feet. He groaned, he didn't have time, he had to do something! But deep down, deep in his mind where he didn't dare think of the 'what if's, he knew it was too late.

* * *

Hours later:

The police had arrived, and everything was a mad chaos. Ambulances, paramedics and fire-fighters were struggling to help, to do anything, but to no avail. There was nobody left to be saved.

Among the crowd of people behind the tape stood a young man with blonde hair and blue eyes. He was wearing a bomber jacket with a distraught expression that would break anyone's heart if they happened to look his way. But who was one man among the hundreds that were trying to get to their loved ones? Who was one heartbroken man among hundreds who were dead, and families that were separated forever? 'Families… I didn't even get to make him my family…'

* * *

The next few days were hell in a way, but comforting in that Alfred would do everything on autopilot and couldn't feel any emotion. Never again will he share funny stories with an equally funny man that could make him laugh on any occasion.

He switched his TV on and the news dominated every channel.

_The tragic accident that occurred 3 days ago in the centre of New York City at 3.16 pm has shaken the world. Hundreds, even thousands were killed and many were injured, yet the reason for this attack is unknown._

Alfred listened to all this uninterestedly. As he was about to search for another means of entertainment a sentence in particular caught his attention.

_Families of the victims have reported receiving last messages of love from the victims, claiming that the messages were left minutes before the planes crashed into the towers._

He jolted as a shiver racked his whole body. How could he have been so stupid as to not check the answering machine? He sprinted, all signs of fatigue leaving his body. He hastily pushed the buttons and listened to the sound of his lover, a sound he had come to cherish.

"Hey Al. By the time you hear this I know I won't be here anymore. Don't cry Al, I just want to let you know that I love you, I always will and I know one day hopefully far into the future we'll definitely meet again. Please tell Luddy that I love him too, and get him to marry that Feliciano kid before it's too late. Also, tell Roderich that I've forgiven him for our silly feuds years ago. I love you, look after yourself; I won't forgive you if you don't."

Gilbert sounded so accepting, as if he knew fate had planned this for him all along, but Alfred couldn't accept it. His heart broke all over again, and all of a sudden his emotional suppression shattered and he fell apart as he relived all those memories.

* * *

_Alfred was in a rush, he was late from his lunch break and he had an extremely important meeting. He hurriedly started to cross the road, not noticing that it was a red light and there was a car zooming across the corner. A strong arm looped around Alfred's own and he was wrenched back from the road. Confusion crossed Alfred's face and he then realised that this random stranger just saved him from being road kill. Scratch that, an extremely unique-looking and handsome stranger. He had pale milky skin, with silvery snow coloured hair, but the most intriguing were his eyes. Alfred found himself looking at the different shades of ruby where the sun hit his eyes, and didn't notice the stranger was giving him a lecture until he raised an eyebrow. _

"_Hey, are you even listening to me? I just saved you, you could at least be grateful!" The pale man grumbled whilst Alfred snapped back to planet Earth. Shit! He was late! He hurriedly pushed past the man and crossed the road (green this time) and dashed towards his office in record time. He arrived panting and sweating and as he was going to the lifts he noticed the red-eyed man again. _

_Turns out that his name was Gilbert Beilschmidt, and he was the important client that he had to have the meeting with._

Alfred smiled at the memory. Gilbert had saved him that day. Although having realised that Gilbert saved him whilst he could only watch as Gilbert plummeted to his death quickly wiped the smile off his face. His mind moved to the next scene in his life.

* * *

_Ludwig was visiting Gilbert and Gilbert thought that he should invite Alfred over so they could meet each other. Alfred thought that was a great idea, and brought Matthew along too so that the respective families could meet each other. Turns out it wasn't such a great idea as Matthew and Ludwig were both shy, and the older brothers teased the younger ones for being so shy._

"_C'mon Lud, don't be such a stick in the mud!" Gilbert chanted his new favourite rhyme that he had just made up, and watched in satisfaction as Ludwig got even more flustered. "Why don't you talk to Matthew, he seems a cute kid! Who knows, maybe you guys can hook up," Ludwig cringed at the suggestive wink, sure the Canadian was cute, but he had his eye on a certain Italian and told his brother just that._

_Little did Gilbert know that on the other side of the room in hushed tones Alfred (who wasn't strictly whispering) was suggesting a similar idea to his little brother._

"_Hey Matt, don't ya think that Ludwig is hot? If I wasn't with Gilbert I would seriously consider tapping that-" Alfred was cut off by a sharp nudge of the elbow delivered to him by Matthew, who was turning a pleasant shade of red._

"_Don't say things like that!" He hissed, hoping no-one heard or saw the interaction._

"_Why, are you jealous? Don't worry, I'm only kidding, he's all yours!" Alfred beamed at him, but saw that Matthew wasn't as pleased as he hoped he was going to be. "Hey bro, you ok?"_

_Matthew nodded but didn't look him in the eye so Alfred became serious. "Look, you don't have to flirt with him if you don't want to, he's just a nice guy, tell me what's wrong?" Matthew looked at the ground before admitting to his brother his secret._

"_Al, you might not want to hear this but I'm not interested-"_

"_That's cool bro, I mean I didn't really expect-"_

"_Let me finish will you?" Alfred was again stunned by his brother's passive-aggressiveness so he let him continue. "It's just that…well I'm in love with someone else, and his name is Ivan." Upon hearing that Alfred's face darkened, how dare that Russian bastard taint his brother's innocence?_

Alfred chuckled a little at Gilbert and his match-making skills, yet his heart still ached to hear that laughter of his once more. So he moved on to the next memory.

* * *

_It was a sunny day in the park and Alfred's palms were sweating nervously as he waited for Gilbert to arrive. Today was the day. Today Alfred F. Jones was going to take his relationship with Gilbert Beilschmidt further by asking him to move in with him. Move in. Just the thought of it made him happy, yet his palms were slicker than ever._

"_Hey, you," A voice suddenly whispered next to his ear, startling him into jumping._

"_Hey, didn't see you there," Alfred started nervously, he wanted to get it over and done with but he was so tense that his stomach had clenched and he felt rather ill, and Gilbert noticed._

"_Al, are you okay? You look a bit unwell and your forehead's sweating, do you have a fever? Shall I take you home? Oh no…" Alfred wasn't listening to Gilbert's fussing, instead answering all his questions with: "Do-you-want-to-move-in-with-me? You-don't-have-to-but-I-thought-it-would-be-easier-since-we-work-together-and-everything-and-we're-going-steady-unless-you-want-to-break-up-which-is-cool, no-wait-I-didn't-mean-that-I-" Gilbert cut off Alfred's verbal diarrhoea with a firm kiss to his open mouth, and effectively cut off Alfred's stream of thoughts too._

"_In case you didn't realise, that's a yes," Gilbert smirked at Alfred when he saw his expression change from shock to relief, to happiness, then back to shock. "Hope that didn't kill too many of your brain cells," He teased, hoping for some sort of reaction from him, which he eventually got when Alfred realised the meaning behind the words and started to chase him around the park insisting that "just because I'm blonde doesn't mean I'm dumb" and "you're just jealous of my good looks!" until they both went home together. _

_Together, back to their home._

This time Alfred could not hold back the tears as he recaptured that beautiful monumental moment in his life. It was then that he realised that all the important parts of his life with Gilbert were beautiful days, the time when he met Gilbert, when he and Gilbert were trying to hook their brothers up, in the park when he made a fool out of himself before having Gilbert move in with him… And of course, Gilbert's death.

Pain, his body filled with pain as his heart couldn't hold it in any more. He didn't know what to do, _couldn't _know what to do without Gilbert supporting him. He hated being so weak but he couldn't help himself from spiralling into despair.

* * *

A week passed, and by then Alfred was quite sure he knew what to do. He couldn't live without Gilbert, so the only thing he could do was to make sure they met again. After all, Gilbert himself had said they were sure to meet again, and what better way was there than to meet in death, where no-one could ever part them again? He knew he was being selfish and escaping his responsibilities, what about Matthew? What was he going to do?

Yet Alfred found that he couldn't care, he just needed to end his suffering. Matthew wasn't his soul mate so he'd only lose a brother. He'll be fine.

Alfred had made his final decision. He was going to go gracefully like Gilbert did. He would fall through the sky twirling and spiralling as he fell. He would definitely make a grand exit, after all what hero wouldn't? A nagging part of his brain told him that if he was a true hero he would be helping to alleviate the situation instead of worsening it, but Alfred ignored the nagging in favour of focusing on numbing his feelings. He knew he couldn't do it if he started thinking about the past again.

Standing above the suspension bridge was a charming young man wearing his best suit. Pinned on the lapel was a delicate white orange blossom fluttering in the gentle breeze. His expression was calm and accepting, and his clothes were filled with rocks. The sunlight glistened on to the rippling river and the man prepared himself.

"Goodbye Matthew, I hope you forgive me, I'm sorry for leaving you alone in this world, but hopefully that Ivan kid would look after you. Remember, take care of yourself and please please don't blame yourself for anything that occurred. It is my own weakness and stupidity that has brought this upon me. I love you, and I'll say hi to Mum and Dad if I see them. Take care."

He remembered the note that he had carefully placed on the table along with instructions of where he wanted to be buried if they found his body.

Alfred said his goodbyes to the world as he leapt off the edge, making sure to twirl as gracefully as he could. He spread his arms out, feeling giddy from the sensation and he uttered: "Gilbert, I'm coming to you."

He could've sworn he heard Gilbert reply and stretch his arms towards Alfred as he hit the water with great force.

He also swore he heard a voice shriek from the top of the bridge, but whether that was Matthew or just his imagination was anybody's guess.

A/N: This is loosely based on 9/11, but since I live in the UK I don't know the exact details and this fic just wrote itself before I could even look anything up.

The meaning of the orange blossom is 'eternal love', and I thought this was very fitting.

Also, I was thinking of putting an alternate ending up where it's not so depressing, so please leave a review if you think that's a good idea.

Thanks for reading, and have a great (hopefully less depressing than this!) day!

~ CBE


End file.
